We are proud to announce that the significant International Symposia on Advancing the Chemical Sciences (ISACS) series will return in 2013 to include Challenges in Chemical Renewable Energy (ISACS12) on 3-6 September in Cambridge, UK.
Abstracts are now invited for this event so submit today and take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to present your work alongside scientists from across the globe.
For details of speakers and conferences themes, please visit the dedicated website.
The 6th ChemComm International Symposium will take place in Brazil on 5th and 8th November 2012, the first ever RSC Journal Roadshow to take place in South America. Attendance at the symposium is free of charge and student participation is strongly encouraged. Please register your interest in attending the meeting on the conference website.
The theme for the meetings is Chemistry and Sustainable Energy. Two one-day meetings will be held:
Each one day meeting will feature a selection of stimulating lectures reflecting the academic and industrial breadth of green chemistry, biofuels, sustainable energy, bioprocess including photosynthesis and catalysis (organic chemistry), delivered by internationally recognised researchers. The first one-day meeting will be held at FAPESP, São Paulo. The second one-day meeting will be held in COPPE-UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro.
Confirmed speakers:
More details about the meeting and how to register are available on the conference website.
Scientists in China and Germany have carbonised corrugated cardboard and from it made layered corrugated carbon as a cheap, high performance electrode material for microbial fuel cells. The microbial bioelectrochemical system of the fuel cell works by using an anode to biocatalytically oxidise complex organic matter and convert this chemical energy into a current flow. With the cardboard, the cell reaches a current density of 40 mA cm-2, one order of magnitude higher than current microbial bioelectrochemical systems, which achieve a current density of <4 mA cm-2.
Read this hot EES communication in full today:
Layered corrugated electrode macrostructures boost microbial bioelectrocatalysis
Shuiliang Chen, Guanghua He, Qin Liu, Falk Harnisch, Yan Zhou, Yu Chen, Muddasir Hanif, Suqin Wang, Xinwen Peng, Haoqing Hou and Uwe Schröder
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23344D
This month sees the following articles in Energy & Environmental Science that are in the top ten most accessed in September:
Graphene based catalysts
Cancan Huang , Chun Li and Gaoquan Shi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8848-8868
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22238h
Facile and economical synthesis of hierarchical carbon-coated magnetite nanocomposite particles and their applications in lithium ion battery anodes
Ji Eun Lee , Seung-Ho Yu , Dong Jun Lee , Dong-Chan Lee , Sang Ihn Han , Yung-Eun Sung and Taeghwan Hyeon
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 9528-9533
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22792d
Graphene quantum dots: an emerging material for energy-related applications and beyond
Zhipan Zhang , Jing Zhang , Nan Chen and Liangti Qu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8869-8890
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22982j
Sustained solar hydrogen generation using a dye-sensitised NiO photocathode/BiVO4 tandem photo-electrochemical device
Lei Tong , Akihide Iwase , Andrew Nattestad , Udo Bach , Martin Weidelener , Günther Götz , Amaresh Mishra , Peter Bäuerle , Rose Amal , Gordon G. Wallace and Attila J. Mozer
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 9472-9475
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22866a
Enhancement of low energy sunlight harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells using plasmonic gold nanorods
Shuai Chang , Quan Li , Xudong Xiao , King Young Wong and Tao Chen
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 9444-9448
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22657j
Nitrogen doping of graphene and its effect on quantum capacitance, and a new insight on the enhanced capacitance of N-doped carbon
Li Li Zhang , Xin Zhao , Hengxing Ji , Meryl D. Stoller , Linfei Lai , Shanthi Murali , Stephen Mcdonnell , Brandon Cleveger , Robert M. Wallace and Rodney S. Ruoff
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 9618-9625
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee23442d
Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security
Mark Z. Jacobson
Energy Environ. Sci., 2009,2, 148-173
DOI: 10.1039/b809990c
Semi-transparent polymer solar cells with 6% PCE, 25% average visible transmittance and a color rendering index close to 100 for power generating window applications
Kung-Shih Chen , José-Francisco Salinas , Hin-Lap Yip , Lijun Huo , Jianhui Hou and Alex K.-Y. Jen
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 9551-9557
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22623e
Nanostructured ceria-based materials: synthesis, properties, and applications
Chunwen Sun , Hong Li and Liquan Chen
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8475-8505
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22310d
Graphene based new energy materials
Yiqing Sun , Qiong Wu and Gaoquan Shi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 1113-1132
DOI: 10.1039/c0ee00683a
Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below
Fancy submitting an article to EES? Then why not submit to us today!
They identified one zeolite in particular which had superior CO2 adsorption properties and CO2/N2 selectivity compared to Mg2(dobdc) ((dobdc4- = 1,4-dioxido-2,5-benzenedicarboxylate) – one of the best currently available adsorbent materials.
Read the full details of this HOT Energy & Environmental Science paper:
Evaluation of cation-exchanged zeolite adsorbents for post-combustion carbon dioxide capture
Tae-Hyun Bae, Matthew R. Hudson, Jarad A. Mason, Wendy L. Queen, Justin J. Dutton, Kenji Sumida, Ken J. Micklash, Steven S. Kaye, Craig M. Brown and Jeffrey R. Long
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23337A
Researchers from the Republic of Korea have developed an energy harvesting device that can be incorporated into clothing to allow the wearer to generate electricity as they move and from static build-up in their clothing. The electricity could then be used to power mobile devices.
The team, led by Hyunjin Kim from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Gyeonggi-do, found that their energy harvester was able to power a 9cm x 3cm liquid-crystal display (LCD) panel and a green light emitting diode (LED).
Charging mobile phones could be done on the go using electricity generated by your clothes as you move
Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…
Read the article from EES:
Enhancement of piezoelectricity via electrostatic effects on a textile platform
Hyunjin Kim , Seong Min Kim , Hyungbin Son , Hyeok Kim , BoongIk Park , JiYeon Ku , Jung Inn Sohn , Kyuhyun Im , Jae Eun Jang , Jong-Jin Park , Ohyun Kim , SeungNam Cha and Young Jun Park
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 8932-8936
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22744D
The first application of a cobalt(II)/(III) tris(2,2’-bipyridine)-based aqueous electrolyte in the fabrication of dye-sensitised solar cells has been carried out by scientists from Australia. In their Energy & Environmental Science paper, they report very high efficiency for an aqueous dye sensitised solar cell.
Cobalt(II)/(III) tris(2,2’-bipyridine)-based electrolytes have been used previously in liquid electrolytes using organic solvents. But, the disadvantages with these types of electrolytes are a high vapour pressure and they are not environmentally friendly.
Electrolytes based on ionic liquids, plastic crystals and solid state conductors have been explored but the ingress of moisture in these systems affects their stability.
Electrolytes based on water are attracting attention as water is cheap, abundant, non-toxic and non-flammable.
Read this exciting research article today:
Aqueous dye-sensitized solar cell electrolytes based on the cobalt(II)/(III) tris(bipyridine) redox couple
Leone Spiccia
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23317G
A new recombination layer for use in tandem polymer solar cells has been developed by scientists in the US. Tandem polymer solar cells are two single-junction solar cells connected in series by a conducting layer (the recombination layer). The new layer – made of the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) modified at one interface with ethoxylated polyethylenimine – results in the highest fill factor value (0.72) ever reported for a tandem polymer solar cell. The fill factor is the ratio of maximum obtainable power to the product of the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current.
Read the full details of this exciting Energy & Environmental Science article today:
High performance polymeric charge recombination layer for organic tandem solar cells
Yinhua Zhou, Canek Fuentes-Hernandez, Jae Won Shim, Talha Mansur Khan and Bernard Kippelen
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23294D
Enzyme-based biofuel cells have been plugged into lobsters and they generated enough power to run a digital watch. In a separate experiment, the same US scientists placed the biofuel cells in a fluidic system that mimicked human blood circulation and used them to power a heart pacemaker.
Biofuel cells coupled with enzymes can harvest electrical energy from biological fuels like glucose. This has led researchers to hope that they could one day power medical devices in people by burning fuel derived from the patient’s diet. Implanting these cells inside living organisms is still a challenge; however, researchers have managed to implant them in rats, rabbits, insects, snails and clams. Despite this work, no attempts have been made to use these enzymatic fuel cells to power real electronic devices as the voltages reached were not high enough (below 0.5V).
Two lobsters generate enough power to operate a watch. The biofuel cells filled with human serum power a pacemaker
Now, Evgeny Katz at Clarkson University, Potsdam, and colleagues, who did the work on the snails and clams, have implanted biofuel cells – connected in series – in two live lobsters. The enzyme-modified electrodes in the cells catalysed glucose oxidation and oxygen reduction in the fluid inside the lobster’s body, generating a current. The team found that the system could generate enough power to operate a watch (1.2V).
Read the article from EES:
From “Cyborg” Lobsters to a Pacemaker Powered by Implantable Biofuel Cells
Kevin MacVittie , Jan Halamek , Lenka Halámková , Mark Southcott , William D Jemison , Robert Lobel and Evgeny Katz
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23209J
Scientists in the US and South Korea have used molecular simulations to study over 130,000 hypothetical MOFs to expand their knowledge of potential CO2 capture materials. The team calculated the adsorption properties, which allowed them to define structure-property relationships for structural characteristics (pore size, surface area, pore volume), and chemical characteristics (i.e. functional groups), building up a roadmap to act as a shortcut to future porous material design.
Many researchers have been looking at different types of compounds for CO2 capture and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) seem to be the most promising. Until now, there have been no clear correlations between material properties (pore size, surface area and pore volume).
Read the ‘HOT’ EES paper today:
Structure-Property Relationships of Porous Materials for Carbon Dioxide Separation and Capture
Christopher E Wilmer, Omar K. Farha, Youn-Sang Bae, J T Hupp and Randall Q Snurr
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23201D
